"In an interesting way, this might have been the best thing to happen to him in terms of his pure quarterbacking development," Rivera said Thursday, via ESPN.com. "He's had to stay in the pocket. He's had to have good footwork. He's had to step into his throws."

"Michael Jordan used to go to the hole all the time and dunk, make spectacular layups and stuff like that," Rivera said. "But if you ask Michael, he learned that later in his career he had to develop that jumper. So he went to work at it."

It's an interesting observation even if it's best relegated to summer coachspeak.